


Bowed and Prayed / wciąż modlili się!

by Marta_Ayanami



Series: 'Fools,' said I, "You do not know" [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Scene from s 4 ep 1 indepth I guess, headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:22:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23314597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marta_Ayanami/pseuds/Marta_Ayanami
Summary: He had to. He had to save them!Whatever it took.
Series: 'Fools,' said I, "You do not know" [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1676332
Kudos: 4





	Bowed and Prayed / wciąż modlili się!

The Lion wasn't responding. The Black Lion wasn't responding at all. It didn't trust him anymore. Even though, out there, almost everyone he grew to love could die in battle!!

What was wrong? Why didn't Black trust him?!

When Shiro closed his eyes, he though, somewhere far away, he sensed something malicious. Like the witch, Haggar. Somewhere very far away. It couldn't be real. It had to be a hallucination.

But... was Black feeling it, too?

Shiro thought he almost heard _Paladin, should I hold him? That cub is not who that cub is, and it is chasing and hunting own tail and is blind. And when it senses claws it was given, it tries to hide them to not hurt pride's cubs, but it does it without knowing, it no see claws, it not know. A blind cub who think part of pride, but not know truth. But dangerous inside. Another hunt._

But that was surely another hallucination. He hasn't really heard it.

And then he forgot it.

But has he seen a lioness?

And then a witch watching a lioness from afar? And a stranger?

Almost as if behind his eyes... no, surely some witch couldn't be somewhere sensing what Shiro was sensing, could she? That was impossible.

They could die. Out there. It was almost a relief that Keith wasn't out there in that battle, but everyone else, all other members of this team, this family of his, they could die, just because he had some strange headaches and hallucinations, or because Black didn't trust him now, and, could it be connected??

Surely not, but...

Out there, Katie, Lance, Hunk, and princess Allura, they could all die, just because.. why wasn't the Lion listening?!

He thought for a moment he imagined something malicious sense the Lion through him. He shook his head. He must've been hallucinating.

And he thought he imagined something else, push that malicious something away.

And then there was silence. The Black still wouldn't respond.

A wild thought suddenly came to mind, between beggings to his (former, apparently, but couldn't the Black understand that Keith wasn't here right now to save the family, even if, true, Keith was always much better at that than Shiro could ever hope to be?! Frighteningly better, as, well.... to be a hero meant that one could die a martyr, and that, for Keith... that, Shiro feared the most, that Keith would someday, the same bravery that he knew Keith's father had to have, from all Keith's stories of him...

Anyway, a wild thought suddenly came to mind. For Katie - er, Pidge, for Lance, for Hunk, for Allura... Shiro suddenly felt he'd do anything, and so, if some imaginary malicious person was sensing the Black from somewhere behind his eyes, and the Lion had same hallucination of that happening, well then, maybe, maybe there was a simple solution.

Shiro decided that, to satisfy the Black, he just might tear his own eyes out because if the alternative was everyone dying, then--

Shiro thought he felt fingers around his throat, like the witch's, but that had to be imaginary. Still, for a moment, it stopped him from moving, much, though he continued to plead with the lion. Apparently, in whatever hallucination he had, the witch Haggar didn't want him mutilating himself, which only made Shiro, wildly, want to do it, more.

His fingers twitched. He imagined... but then, he thought he heard some stranger's voice, not malicious, and familiar, and maybe even soothing, and he couldn't make out what the stranger was saying, at all. The stranger wasn't talking to him, anyway, Shiro felt, but to the Lion. To Black. As if Shiro wasn't even there or as if Shiro was below notice, not worthy of being spoken to. As if he might just as well have been an airbag, that's how much the nonmalicious stranger from surely a hallucination avoided talking to Shiro. Why, he didn't know, but for the stranger, he apparently could as well have been a very desperately pleading airbag.

Or maybe not. Maybe he had a wrong impression. Maybe the stranger just didn't know that Shiro was Shiro, was a person, and not an airbag? Would tell him later.

Still, whatever, no matter what, Shiro continued pleading to the Lion to trust him.

And then

the Black Lion listened.

To him, or to the nonmalicious stranger, who, surprisingly kindly, touched his forehead (maybe, it was all a hallucination anyway, and all invisible) and Shiro's headache went away for the whole battle, from that second on? Only for the duration of the battle, but still, it was important.

No matter, this wasn't a contest, whether the Black listened to Shiro, or to some nonexistent hallucination, Shiro still

could help save his new family.

And that was all that mattered, no matter what happened to him in the future, or how many hallucinations it'd take.

(He hoped Keith didn't have hallucinations when in Black Lion. That'd be unhealthy!)

Anyway, right now, only thing that mattered was that the Black did Shiro that favour, allowed him a chance to save everyone. No matter what. It felt somehow a bit hostile, still, and if it planned to tear Shiro into pieces after the battle was done, then that, anyway, was also a price Shiro was willing to pay.

Feeling slightly hostile, but still saving him, just like when first saving him in space... or was that Keith... hmmm... no, there was somebody else, in the Lion, back then, besides Keith. Somebody as familiar as Keith, but a stranger, at same time. Wait, what, how could somebody be as familiar as the brother, but also be a stranger? That other person in Black, besides Keith and Black... no, that was just a hallucination. There was no other person there.

Just like there was no, let's say, fourth person, the witch, irritated and intrigued.

No, just some hallucinations. Came with headaches sometimes.

Only thing that mattered was that now Black allowed him a chance to save everyone. Nothing else mattered. If the lion, still feeling a bit hostile for no (as far Shiro was now concerned) reason decided to eat him after the battle, that was fine, too, though he had the strangest imaginary feeling, for a split second, that someone else was already eaten, so there wouldn't be enough stomach space, so to speak. Not enough space unless the Black decided to quickly devour him. But that was just Shiro's imagination. Still, no matter what it took, he was going to pilot it. And the Black apparently agreed, and if some stranger apparently also asked Black to agree, that fine, too, Shiro would thank him, on his knees if necessary, later, if they ever would meet. No matter how much contempt the stranger seemed to have for him, and how surprised the stranger seemed to have been that Shiro genuinely cared for family. The stranger who apparently had to first notice that Shiro was more than some camera (now that was a strange thought..) or airbag. But, whatever it took. To have a chance to save everyone. (Was he himself a part of 'everyone'? Now that was a strange thought. Was the Lion perhaps asking that? Or the stranger? Not the witch, that much, he knew. To the witch, in those strange hallucinations, he was a nothing. Much less than an airbag or doll or camera. Much less.

**********************************************************************

The battle cleared Shiro's head of those strange hallucinations and later he didn't remember them. Only remembered pleading with Black and the Black finally accepting him again. At last. To save everyone in their Family.

_The cub is witch's cub, of your seed, but it no see. It not know. What do you think, Paladin?_

_I don't know. It doesn't know it's evil? So It's not evil, then? I don't understand... could you explain him to me more??_

_It a witch's cub, of your seed, and it blind, and chases own tail. What there to explain?_

_Because I don't understand at all, Black! Can you just speak human for once, and tell me if it's evil??_

_I no know word 'evil'._

And then there was a yawn?

Shiro shook his head. Those two voices, from afar... surely just another hallucination.

It didn't matter.

He, Shiro, was a Black Paladin again. Black surely trusted him again. And he could save everyone again.

And he wasn't blind, he could see everyone, right? So why would they say...no, he surely misheard.

He was the Black Paladin again, wasn't he?

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: If it's not very obvious, Takashi 'Shiro' Shirogane is still in the middle of evaluating whether Takashi 'Shiro' Shirogane Subject Y0XT39 (he'll need a nickname... well, would if he lived, poor guy) is a real person and an honest person, or not.
> 
> He's not insensitive or biased (maybe a little) when it comes to that, he's just been through a lot, that's why such evaluation takes time. What Shiroclone reads as hostility is more of a "so, is this like a flesh robot programmed by Haggar or something, ooooor really seriously a person? I've no idea, what do you think, Black? Because I have no idea. Is this a thing or a person?? If it's not a thing, should I say 'sorry'? But what if it is just a thing?? What if it's just fooling me? Black, am I too trusting?" < some of the things that Shiroclone hears not hearing (you know, like when people are whispering close to you in such a way that you can aaaaaaaaaaalmost hear them, but not quite enough to make sense, only general tone XD ), which is why... yeah. 
> 
> So Shiroclone sometimes just thinks 'I'm a bit crazy apparently now, hearing voices, well, at least that voice isn't THE worst, I prefer this one to the witch voice. And I only almost-hear this one when inside the Lion, anyway, and it doesn't give me headaches, so, that's a good imaginary voice, for... certain value of good...' about real Shiro's voice. (Shiroclone doesn't know that's Shiro, not quite, and if he knew ever for a moment, he would then forget because of Haggar).
> 
> etc.
> 
> ____
> 
> Polish title of the fic is from Sylwek Szweda's translation of the "Sound of Silence".. I doubt he even knows this website exists, but still. I'm a translator, I respect translations.


End file.
